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Sexting Results in Florida Teen's Suicide

It
appears that another "sexting"-gone-bad episode has resulted in a
13-year-old Florida girl taking her own life. This would be the second
known case in the U.S. where a connection has been drawn between
sexting and suicide.

The
circumstances not only highlights the dangers inherent with sexting,
but also the role of peer bullying that emerges once sexted photos are
distributed widely among students populations.

At the
end of the school year at Beth Shields Middle School, the taunting
became so bad that Hope Witsell's friends surrounded her between
classes. They escorted her down hallways like human shields, fending
off insults such as "whore" and "slut." A few days before, Hope had
forwarded a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked — a practice
widely known as "sexting." The image found its way to other students,
who forwarded it to their friends. Soon the nude photo was circulating
through cell phones at Shields Middle and Lennard High School,
according to multiple students at both schools. "Tons of people talk
about me behind my back and I hate it because they call me a whore!"
Hope wrote in her journal. "And I can't be a whore i'm too
inexperienced. So secretly TONS of people hate me … " School
authorities learned of the nude photo around the end of the school year
and suspended Hope for the first week of eighth grade, which started in
August. About two weeks after she returned to school, a counselor
observed cuts on Hope's legs and had her sign a "no-harm" contract, in
which Hope agreed to tell an adult if she felt inclined to hurt
herself, her family says. The next day, Hope hanged herself in her
bedroom. She was 13.